Electric motors are regulated with the aid of transducers which deliver values such as an actual speed, an acceleration table or an actual position for controlling and regulating the electric motor. Such signals referring to position, speed or acceleration can contain errors, giving rise to a transducer error. Transducer errors can be caused for example by a coupling failure, that is, a failure in the attachment of the transducer to an axis of the electric motor, or by an error in the transducer itself. In the case of the transducer itself, the transducer electronics or a transducer disk may possibly be defective.
The drive device relates in particular to a drive device for a machine tool or a production line. When machine tools or production lines are being monitored for safety, it is generally the case that transducer couplings and transducer mechanics in the system are not monitored on a redundant basis, since such devices tend to be extremely failsafe. The transducer mechanics relate in particular to a transducer disk. In the case of machine tools and production lines, however, the significance of safety engineering is continually on the increase. This leads to the concept that the catchword “safety integrated” holds increasing significance for users of machine tools and production lines. In particular, monitoring of the transducer mechanics or transducer coupling is increasingly required as part of the often quite costly certification.